[Python-Dev] Error message for wrong number of arguments (original) (raw)

Chris Barker chris.barker at noaa.gov
Mon Jul 30 14:22:48 EDT 2018

On Mon, Jul 30, 2018 at 5:12 AM, Jeroen Demeyer <J.Demeyer at ugent.be> wrote:

I think it has been argued before that it's a feature that self is counted.

I suppose it is, as it's technically correct, but it's also a HUGE source of confusion, particularly for newbies. IF this is being touched anyway, is it possible for the interpreter to know when this error is generated that this is a bound method expecting a "self", rather than an arbitrary function with n parameters? In which case, it would be really nice if the error message replaced that somehow, maybe something like:

g(1,2) Traceback (most recent call last): File "", line 1, in TypeError: append() takes 1 positional argument in addition to the automatically added instance object -- but 2 were given in addition to the object instance.

Man -- hard to come up with good wording for that -- but SOMETHING that lets users know what they actually did wrong would be good :-)

If it's not do-able, then still +1 on making builtins consistent.

-CHB

--

Christopher Barker, Ph.D. Oceanographer

Emergency Response Division NOAA/NOS/OR&R (206) 526-6959 voice 7600 Sand Point Way NE (206) 526-6329 fax Seattle, WA 98115 (206) 526-6317 main reception

Chris.Barker at noaa.gov -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/attachments/20180730/b66660b7/attachment.html>

More information about the Python-Dev mailing list